PARTY! Kieron Gillen on Young Avengers’ End-of-Year Shindig [SDCC 2013]

What are you doing New Year's Eve? It may seem a long way off, but as announced at Friday's Cup O' Joe panel at San Diego Comic-Con, Kieron Gillen is already making plans.

The last issue of Young Avengers in 2013 and the first in 2014 tell a two-part story of a single night at a party - a chance to blow off steam after the trials and tribulations ahead. What makes the story really exciting is its guest artists, including Becky Cloonan, Joe Quinones, Ming Doyle, Christian Ward and Emma Vieceli. ComicsAlliance spoke to Kieron Gillen to find out more about the story, and what readers have to look forward to in the meantime.

Comics Alliance: You're seeing out 2013 and seeing in 2014 with a Young Avengers "after-party". What's the format, and what's the big idea?

Kieron Gillen: The climax of the season is issues 12-13, which is incredibly dense and high-stakes, and guest stars pretty much every teen hero I could get my hands on. What do you do after something like that? Well, an after-party sounds like a good idea, and we just let the cast...

Well, the story is called "Resolution". That's what it's about. A new year's party, at the end of a year of adventures, and we get a little resolution.

The idea I lobbed at [editor] Lauren [Sankovitch] was basically two issues, each comprising of four vignettes set in this single party on a single night, released the week before and the week after New Year's.

Lauren said yes!

Hugs to Lauren.

CA: You have an amazing roster of artists helping you out on the book. How did you assemble such an awesome team?

KG: We basically thought, “Who would get their round in at the con bar?” and dropped them a line.

Really, this idea was floating around my head all the way back in issue #1. I talked about doing Young Avengers as a gang, and dragging in a bunch of people we love – both personally and their work – was part of the point. The only one I don't know personally is Joe Quinones, who we decided to approach after he was being very nice about YA on a podcast (and because we love his work).

There's another artist who hasn't been mentioned yet, because we're not 100% sure it'll fit their schedule. If that falls through, we've got many more people we'd love to ask, because there's many more people we love.

CA: Who is the best-dressed person at this after-party? (What's America Chavez wearing?!?)

KG: That's a tricky question actually. We're dragging in every single available teenage character in the Marvel Universe in, so there'll hopefully be a mass of cameos. Any one of them could steal the show from our regular cast.

Chavez will be wearing Loki as a stole by then, I suspect.

CA: Is anyone going to be making out with someone they shouldn't be making out with?

Andrew! What kind of New Year's party would it be if there wasn't?

Stepping outside of our core cast, when I was mailing around writers asking who was available, I did ask whether anyone had any preferences on any of their characters making out inadvisedly with anyone else. Sam Humphries was first on the ball, so expect some hot robot action in the background.

CA: Before the after-party you have a lot of stories left to tell this year. Can you drop any hints about what's coming up? What's the magnitude of the feels?

We're painting new digits on the scale to encompass the scale of the emotional devastation.

Seriously, when doing Young Avengers, part of my aim was to bring in some of the lessons from Journey Into Mystery. Basically, as popular as it was, when it hit its final stride – the rush from Leah's fate onwards into Everything Burns – it was just like kicking over explosive dominoes in terms of impact. With Young Avengers, rather than having 18 issues and then reaching that intensity, I've been seeing to bring it forward considerably.

#5 and #6 were heavy hitters, but it's really #8 where I think we get that. It could even be too much, y'know? I've been manoeuvring my pieces into place, and now I start blowing them up.

Really, the ends of my schemes always are more popular than their starts. Trying to start the end earlier is probably a good idea. And when the start is as well received as it has been, it really gives me high hopes for the last half of the season.

That said, we're probably over-due a backlash.

CA: What are the Young Avengers' tunes of choice for ending out a long night?

The choices will be Marvel Boy's, as he'll be DJing.

And honestly? Still deciding. I'm pretty sure the last scene will be people leaving the club, which means I have to choose the last dance. Heavy thinking ahead.

The Young Avengers after-party story, "Resolutions", runs in December 2013 and January 2014.